Hippomobile!

We rated this book:

$16.99

Twins Jimmy and Stella live in a town called Wymore, where nothing exciting ever really happens. One morning they find an old note about an old machine called the ‘Hippomobile’, an old contraption that hasn’t worked for years. The twins decide to try to get it running again. Mabel’s Cafe, the only restaurant in town, is struggling to stay in business, and the twins think that maybe if they get it running they will get more business to come to the cafe and it will be able to stay open. With the help of their many grandmas and grandpas, they have many adventures, but will they get it running again?

This book was really funny and it had a lot of times where the twins were getting nowhere but they always figured out a way to do something. All the grandmas and grandpas were pretty funny too. My favorite grandparents were Grandpa Milton and Grandma Henrietta. Grandma Henrietta always won at playing checkers with Grandpa Milton, so Grandpa Milton always wanted a rematch. Finally Grandpa Milton got a book about checkers and won his first match! Then Grandma Henrietta wanted a rematch! I think everybody who likes mysteries and silliness will enjoy this book too.

I found this book really hard to get through and and I had to put it down and pick it up a lot as the story didn’t really fit me. All I could think about was this is what it must be like to read a fake story of Pokemon like when Cars came out and someone copied it trying to make people think it was the same thing. I think kids who really like Dragon Ballz and Pokemon might like this book. Sometimes it seemed the author spent too much time describing stuff and putting so many verbs and adjectives in every single sentence; it just made it hard to get into the story.

I think it would have been a much better graphic novel to tell the story more with pictures and to not have so many sentences overflowing with description. It would easily catch people’s attention and tell a story even without words so even kids who are just learning to read could read it. I don’t think I would spend my money on this book and would have just checked it out from the library instead.

If you are looking for a book that has a lot of chapters that are only a few pages long, then this is the book for you! It isn’t a big book and there are a couple black and white pictures throughout it also. It isn’t until halfway through the book that Angie realizes she just might actually be a witch and she has power. Now all she had to do was figure out how to use it and for good to prove she was really a good person and not bad. I am not sure if this is a book that is part of a series or not. It mentions her brother having been a vampire, but there wasn’t anything in the story about it. And I was confused a little why she gave out the power.

This was a fun book. I really liked Angie and her brother and how they tease each other. This book teaches about friendship, being nice, and overcoming bad situations. I would recommend this book to tweens who are looking for a quick book to read!

First, I wish I had read the other three books in this series first, though you don’t have to, but I really think you should. For younger kids who might think this book is too big for them, it is not. It is thick, but the words are pretty big and that makes it easier to reach. There are nineteen chapters that help break up the reading and I wish they had put more pictures then two. I know I like pictures and I think it helps make the reading easier for a lot of people. Some of the names are just too hard to say and keep saying and I am not sure why all of these animal books always give animals the weirdest and hardest names.

A cat, a bird, and a frog are the main characters who all have some type of magic. Together they save the queendom only to have stuff go wrong again and they have to go on an adventure to try and prove they are innocent. These three animals can be so funny and kind of remind me of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. If you like Harry Potter and the Warriors, then you will definitely love this book!

Siria’s father is a firefighter. Every night, Siria listens for the sound of sirens. Then, with her friend Douglas, she runs with the red fire trucks to bring her dad good luck. Siria thinks someone has been setting small fires in the neighborhood. She sees flames in the old shed, in the movie theater, and near the creek. Coincidentally, wherever there is a fire, there is always a dog—and Siria wants him for her own. When Siria finds some green wool belonging to someone she knows in the charred shed, she starts to investigate. Even though Siria knows that all the evidence points to her suspect, she realizes that it is possible that someone else could be the arsonist – and she is hoping that is the case.

I liked how, at the beginning of some of the chapters, there were different myths about how the different constellations came to be because Siria was named after the star Sirius. I also liked this book because I did not expect the ending. I would recommend this book for kids ages 8-12.

Fer is struggling with her friendship with the Puck-boy, Rook. She keeps trying to be friends, but Pucks are known for being disloyal, and so far, that has proved true for Rook, too. But Fer can’t spend too much time worrying about their friendship because when she made the rulers of other kingdoms in the Faerieland swear to take off their evil ‘glamories’, she didn’t know the consequences that would have. Now, as the unfulfilled oaths are poisoning the land, Fer must find a way to save both her world and her friendship.

I wish there had been a little bit more explaining of the mythology, because I didn’t really understand that whole thing. But I liked the different worlds that Fer could travel to in the book, and the descriptive scenes of the lands. Fer was a very likeable character, and very creative and brave. Rook was very annoying; most thirteen-year-old boys are (especially in books)! I liked the solutions to the problems they had, and that Fer was always hoping for the best.